Archive for March, 2012

The George T. Hunter Lecture Series sponsored by the Benwood Foundation in partnership with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga schedules renowned food advocate and author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma to speak on April 19th, 2012. Here’s more from the press release:

This event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6pm. Seating available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

For the past 20 years, Michael Pollan has been writing books and articles about the places where the human and natural worlds intersect – with a focus on food and agriculture. He is the author of the bestsellers In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto and The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, which was named one of the 10 best books of 2006 by the New York Times and the Washington Post. It also won the California Book Award, the Northern California Book Award, the James Beard Award for best food writing, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Pollan’s previous book, The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World, was also a New York Times bestseller, received the Borders Original Voices Award for the best non-fiction work of 2001, and was recognized as a best book of the year by the American Booksellers Association and Amazon.com. PBS premiered a two-hour special documentary based on The Botany of Desire in fall 2009. His most recent book is Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, which was an immediate #1 New York Timesbestseller upon publication; an expanded, illustrated edition of Food Rules will be published in November 2011.

In 2009 he was named one of the top 10 “New Thought Leaders” by Newsweek magazine. His essays have appeared in many anthologies, including Best American Essays (the 1990 and 2003 editions), Best American Science Writing(2004), and the Norton Book of Nature Writing. In addition to publishing regularly in TheNew York Times Magazine, his articles have appeared in Harper’s (where he served for many years as executive editor), Mother Jones, Gourmet, Vogue, Travel + Leisure, Gardens Illustrated, and The Nation. Michael Pollan was chosen by Time Magazine for the 2010 Time 100 in the Thinkers category.

Pollan’s lecture is entitled: In Defense of Food: An Omnivore’s Solution.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has completed year 3 of the current 5 year strategic plan. During the course of the strategic plan development and implementation UTC focused on four areas of impact; Partnerships for Students- Teaching and Learning, Partnerships for Education and Research, Partnerships for Diversity, Enabling Partnerships in the Community.

The idea for ‘Living Newspaper’ as an art form came about through the Federal Theatre Project of the 1930s as a way to take social issues, research them and dramatize them through songs, scenes and monologues using fictional characters. The idea was to show a personal side of an issue in order to raise awareness about it.

ETC will present a new ‘Living Newspaper’ for today’s audience. This play opens on March 23rd and runs for three weeks, three nights per week at the St. Andrews Center. The cast and writers chose topics to cover and wrote the script for the show. Theatre Professor from Chattanooga State’s Professional Actors’ Training Program Jeff Parker directs this ‘Living Newspaper’.

To celebrate the 60th Anniversary of this Agatha Christie mystery play, The Chattanooga Theatre Centre opens with Mousetrap March 16th, 2012. Here’s more from the Press Release:

The plot of the Agatha Christie mystery has all the elements of a classic thriller: A group of strangers are stranded in a boarding house during a snowstorm. One of them a murderer. The suspects include the newlyweds who run the house (Lauren Johnson and Tim Newland); a spinster with a curious background (Lizzie Chazen); an architect who seems better equipped to be a chef (Justin Bridges); a retired Army major (Greg Rambin); a strange man who claims his car has overturned in a snowdrift (Jerry Draper); and a jurist who makes life miserable for everyone (Julie Van Valkenburg). Into their midst, arriving on skis, comes a policeman (Will Park) who, in order to discern the murderer’s pattern, probes the background of everyone present and rattles a lot of skeletons. Another famous Agatha Christie switch finish! A superb intrigue from the foremost mystery writer of her time.

Cast of "Mousetrap"

Everyone in the snow-covered boarding house is a suspect in this Agatha Christie ‘whodunit’ including (seated from left) Julie Van Valkenburg, Jerry Draper, and Greg Rambin. Standing, from left, Lizzie Chazen, Lauren Johnson, Will Park, Tim Newland, and Justin Bridges.

“The Mousetrap” began as a short BBC radio play entitled “Three Blind Mice” written at the request of Queen Mary. The extended work opened on the London stage as “The Mousetrap” in 1952 and has played for 60 years.

Louisa May Alcott’s famous Civil War Era novel has been adapted for the stage and ran on Broadway in 2005. Ever After Productions brings the new musical to the Colonnade Center in Catoosa County, Georgia with a cast of 8 backed by a full orchestra.

You can usually find Famous Nater’s World Famous Food Truck serving food at several locations in Chattanooga such as Miller’s Plaza, Main Street, or Market Street. The Famous Nater’s Food Truck was recently named runner-up for Mobile-Cuisine.com’s Rookie Food Truck of the Year. Garrett Crowe spoke to Nathan Flynt, owner of Famous Nater’s, about the growing popularity of the food truck movement.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s College of Business has partnered with Oklahoma State’s School of Entrepreneurship to introduce a program designed to help disabled veterans improve business management and entrepreneurship. The Veterans Entrepreneurship Program will offer training and mentoring to veterans that own or want to own their own business. Applications will be accepted through April 9, 2012. This program is offered free of charge to qualified veterans that have a service related disability or have a record of distinguished service.

Glass street is seen from outside Glass House Neighborhood Collective.

There’s a neighborhood in East Chattanooga, less than five miles from downtown, whose economic heyday ended decades ago. Lots of the old buildings are still there, but the businesses just aren’t. There’s a small group of people, though, who started working in the neighborhood last month. They’re aiming to revitalize the area.

More and more people are joining gangs in Chattanooga. Mayor Littlefield even hired two people in January to cut down on gang presence. One of the new hires explains what gangs are like in Chattanooga, and what Chattanoogans should and should not be worried about.